Harry: Veratia, I Want to Learn German

sad?

Percy was somewhat puzzled.

If there were such a perfect way to divert the attention of the media and the public, and also to greatly increase one's standing in Mr. Crouch's eyes, it would be a perfect solution to the dilemma.

So why would I be sad about such a good idea?

Thinking this through, Percy also raised his own question.

"I don't understand," he asked, frowning. "Why am I upset when it's such a perfect situation?"

"Because~" Veratia casually poked at her coffee cup with a small spoon, "because this matter is inextricably linked to your boss—"

"You mean—" Percy's heart skipped a beat; he had a bad feeling.

"What did I say?" Veratia didn't continue. She just gave Harry a sweet smile and then lowered her head, sitting there cosplaying as a quiet beauty.

Before Percy could say anything, Kritcher went into the Kitchen and handed a letter to Sirius.

"There's a letter from an owl to the young master's brought honor to the family," Kritcher rambled on. "If only this young master could be more understanding of Kritcher and not fill this room with people, that would be even better."

That's Kritcher; every few words he utters, he never misses an opportunity to subtly reference Sirius.

Sirius held back, managing to suppress Kritcher's rambling.

It's just a few words, nothing to get angry about.

Besides, if Kritcher is punished, who will cook for everyone? Who will clean his room?

He took the letter, opened it, glanced at it, and then looked up with a chuckle.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Weasley asked curiously.

Sirius handed the letter to Mr. Weasley, grinning, and said, "We were just saying that the Ministry of Magic needed a bigger story to cover up its mistakes at the World Cup —and sure enough, they dropped a bombshell."

Mr. Weasley took the letter, Percy immediately crept up behind him, over his shoulder, and began to read it with him.

The Weasley family Twins and Ron, on the other hand, adopted a detached and indifferent attitude.

"It seems they really had no other choice, even announcing something like this ahead of time." Mr. Weasley put down the letter and sighed.

Percy frowned, puzzled, and asked, "I remember the Ministry of Magic repeatedly emphasized that this year's important competition at Hogwarts... do you know what it is?"

"Come on, Weatherby," Fred interrupted Percy loudly, raising an arm. "Since it's already been revealed in the letter, why are you still trying to keep it a secret?"

Percy's ears turned red when he heard his Twins brother's retort.

"Shut up!" he snapped. "The Triwizard Tournament is top secret; Mr. Crouch said so himself—"

Fred and George didn't say anything, but instead made a face at Percy.

"The Triwizard Tournament?" Ron looked up and asked curiously, "What's the Triwizard Tournament?"

Seeing the clear foolishness in Ron's eyes, Percy revealed a very smug expression. He cleared his throat and explained in a measured tone, "The Triwizard Tournament is a magical competition held between the three major magic schools in Europe: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Durmstrang Institute Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Each school sends one representative to participate."

"The chosen champions participate in a three-part competition—traditionally judged by the Headmaster or Headmaster of the competing schools—aimed at testing magical abilities, intelligence, and courage. The champions vie for the honor and glory of winning the competition, as well as the Triwizard Tournament Cup and monetary prizes. The first tournament was held around the end of the thirteenth century."

"But the competition was notorious for being extremely dangerous: many champions died in the competition, and due to the large number of deaths, it was discontinued in 1792 or sometime thereafter."

"So what we want to revive is a competition like this?" Hermione asked, frowning. "That's too barbaric!"

But this was only what Hermione found barbaric; the Weasley twins even seemed eager to try it themselves.

"That's great!" Fred said to George with a hearty laugh. "Maybe we can participate in this competition, win the championship, and eventually become heroes of Hogwarts —what do you think?"

"Oh, don't be silly, Fred." George rolled his eyes. "If nothing unexpected happens, each school can only send one person to the competition, which means that only one of us can participate."

"You're making it sound like you've already secured your spots in the competition," Percy sighed helplessly. "Back when the decision was made to restart the competition, the three Headmaster unanimously agreed that participants must be at least seventeen years old to participate—and you two—haha, unfortunately you're not old enough."

"We have our own ways, so you don't need to worry about that, Weatherby," the Twins said in unison, laughing.

Percy held back, veins bulging on his forehead, but he still managed to suppress the urge to retaliate.

As expected, the announcement of the resumption of the Triwizard Tournament immediately overshadowed the less-than-ideal episode at the World Cup.

On the one hand, it was also because of that rubber duck fake wand that the camp was only in a commotion and no one was hurt.

If there is such a thing, then the unlucky guy who was startled by the Dark Mark flying up in the sky and tripped and fell down would also count.

Harry was somewhat dissatisfied with this age restriction.

It would be somewhat unreasonable not to let him play in this Triwizard Tournament.

To this end, Veratia openly comforted him several times, which finally soothed the wounds in his young heart.

Cassandra felt more and more that something was wrong, but she couldn't find any reason to it.

On the day before School Opening started, the day Veratia was to return to work at the Austrian Ministry of Magic, Cassandra finally asked what was on her mind.

"I have this feeling that something's been off lately," Cassandra asked with a sigh, rubbing her eyes. "Grindelwald, I know you're good at Prophecy, you should know what's going on, right?"

She's becoming desperate and grasping at straws. This Grim feeling can't continue. Wizards are much more superstitious than Muggle; after all, sometimes emotional changes are a form of Prophecy.

Veratia, who was drinking coffee, almost sprayed it all over Harry's face. She suppressed her overwhelming laughter and forced herself to say, "Is this how you ask for favors, Cass?"

She really didn't want Cassandra to know about her raid, but if she showed any panic, Cassandra would definitely become suspicious.

This kind of straightforward and unpretentious response is the most likely to arouse suspicion.

Cassandra's forehead vein throbbed.

This Grindelwald...

She suppressed the urge to make sarcastic remarks about Veratia; the most important thing now was to find out what was going on.

"I can't get angry, I can't get angry." She took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and said, "Okay, please help me, Miss Grindelwald."

Seeing her awkward expression, Veratia actually felt quite pleased.

She now felt a little bad, having stolen the Pigwidgeon's virginity before she could, and had completely fooled her—

Oh dear, I shouldn't laugh.

"Hmm—" Veratia pretended to be looking into the future. She closed her eyes, then opened them again after a while. "It's probably because you haven't been resting well lately. Cass's Eyes of Prophecy tells me that you should get more rest."

"Is that so?" Cassandra reached out and touched her cheek. "Oh—you're right, I've been having nightmares lately about you and Harry— "

At this point, Cassandra suddenly stopped talking.

Sirius had overheard their conversation from a short distance away, reached out a hand and slapped it on his face.

This Young Lady Malfoy—

Honestly, he seems a bit dim-witted.

Veratia suddenly felt a sense of guilt.

I did feel guilty, because Cassandra's dream was somewhat related to her.

Of course, Veratia also felt that it wasn't really her fault. She thought Cassandra should also be involved, shouldn't she?

Harry sat there, sweating profusely, unsure of what to say.

Should we just listen to what Veratia is saying? Or should we talk about something else?

But he quickly dismissed the idea, after all, at this time it was better to say nothing, the less he said, the fewer mistakes he would make, and the more he said, the more mistakes he would make.

However, the more he wanted to be invisible, the less likely he was to succeed.

"Harry, you speak," Veratia suddenly called on him.

Harry's mind raced, frantically trying to come up with a solution.

"What should I say?" He ultimately chose the simplest and most straightforward approach—playing dumb.

"You should just eat," Cassandra said disdainfully. "I can tell you can't offer any constructive suggestions, so you should just eat your food."

Harry immediately lowered his head; he was more than happy to be able to escape this unknown area-of-effect attack.

If Cassandra discovers anything, that would be disastrous.

Veratia failed to succeed that evening.

Cassandra believed that Veratia would be leaving Britain the next day, so she should have a long talk with her all night to strengthen their relationship.

Veratia: No, there's absolutely no need for that—

But there was really no other way. Cassandra squinted and stared straight at her, making it hard for her not to overthink.

When they woke up in the morning, neither of the girls looked to be in good spirits.

The two of them chatted during the first half of the night, but in the second half, it turned into a battle of wits, neither willing to go to sleep first and let the other slip away quietly.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked with concern.

"It's nothing," Cassandra smiled faintly. "It's just that Grindelwald was very reluctant to part with me before we separated, so he talked to me all night."

Veratia sipped her steaming coffee, her eyes slicing through Cassandra with a piercing gaze.

If looks could kill, Cassandra would probably be riddled with wounds by now.

Veratia is very resentful right now. After all, she had planned to spend some quality time together before parting last night, but she never expected that Cassandra would ruthlessly interrupt her.

Harry sat there silently, wondering if he should sneak off to Austria one weekend to visit Veratia and have some fun.

Yes, the official title is to learn German.

I really want to learn German!

Cassandra: But I speak German too!

"Let's eat quickly," Harry suddenly blurted out. "We still have to catch the train. Don't forget, today isn't just the day Veratia leaves Britain to go back to work, it's also the first day of School Opening for us—"

"Speaking of the School Opening," Veratia said with a smile, "Gemma from Slytherin was accepted into the Austrian Ministry of Magic a few days ago, and I only received the news last night~"

"That's a good thing," Harry said with a smile. "It's always good to have some family and friends around when you're in a foreign land—"

"I need to remind you, Potter— " Cassandra couldn't stand it any longer, "Your dear Miss Grindelwald is Austria by nature. Austria isn't a foreign land to her; it's Britain that's truly her foreign land..."

That's absolutely true. When Veratia crossed mountains and seas to come to Britain, she was truly a stranger in a foreign land.

Veratia didn't answer; she looked up and kept blowing her bangs to show her disregard for Cassandra.

This is the first time Harry has ever seen Veratia so adorable.

"I still don't understand," Ron said, chewing on his bread. "Why do we have to take the Hogwarts Express to school? Can't we find another way? Do we have to squeeze in with our classmates to get to school?"

"Theoretically, it is possible," Sirius said. "When I was in school, some parents would use horse-drawn carriages to pick up some of their classmates at the School Opening each new semester, like the Malfoy family. Old Abraxas was quite fond of his son."

"What about the others?" Ron asked with interest, "Like your Black family home?"

"Please," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I ran away from home and am a disgrace to the Black family. Do you think I have any special right to ride in a carriage?"

"That's true." Ron surprisingly nodded in agreement.

After the meal, Veratia said goodbye.

After giving Harry a goodbye kiss, Veratia turned to leave.

"Are you just leaving like that?" Cassandra asked, arms crossed. "Aren't you going to say anything to me, Grindelwald?"

"Oh." Veratia turned around and said mischievously, "Looks like our Cass also needs a farewell kiss?"

These words made Cassandra blush.

"Who, who asked you to do this?" Cassandra snorted, extending her hand. "Just shake hands, after all, we're friends, aren't we?"

"No, we're closer than friends."

Veratia stepped forward, smilingly took Cassandra's small hand, and then suddenly attacked, catching Cassandra off guard, and Veratia gave her a light, quick kiss on the cheek.

Bye-bye~

She smiled, turned, and stepped into the fireplace.

With a flicker of green flame, Veratia vanished from the fireplace, leaving a stunned Cassandra rooted to the spot, unable to process what had happened for a long time.